hungry

adjective hun·gry \ ˈhəŋ-grē \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: hungry in a Sentence

Definition of hungry

hungrier; hungriest

1 a : feeling an uneasy or painful sensation from lack of food : feeling hunger

b : characterized by or characteristic of hunger or appetite

a wolf with hungry eyes

2 a : eager, avid

hungry for affection

b : strongly motivated (as by ambition)

hungry investors

a power-hungry politician

3 : not rich or fertile : barren

a hungry soil

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hungrily

play \ˈhəŋ-grə-lē\ adverb

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hungriness

play \ˈhəŋ-grē-nəs\ noun

See hungry defined for English-language learners

See hungry defined for kids

Examples of hungry in a Sentence

There are millions of hungry people throughout the world.
That girl is always hungry.
The prisoners' families were hungry for more information.
They were hungry to learn more.

Recent Examples of hungry from the Web

According to Gleaners, 172,000 Marion County residents are hungry regularly, 50,000 of them children.

— maureen c. gilmer, Indianapolis Star, "Mobile food pantry aims to feed up to 70,000 in Indianapolis," 5 June 2018
Anyone who comes here will need to be hungry and committed to playing for Nashville.

— grant wahl, SI.com, "Ian Ayre Sets Out to Build Nashville's MLS Expansion Team From the Bottom Up," 22 May 2018
Basically, nobody at Harry and Meghan's big day went hungry.

— amy mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Rumors From Inside the Royal Wedding Party: From Harry and Meghan's First Dance to Prince William's Naughty Speech," 20 May 2018
The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) is complete...and those of us who have been up since the wee hours of the morning to watch the event are hungry.

— hanna howard, Teen Vogue, "Royal Wedding: See the Cake and Find Out What Guests Ate," 19 May 2018
With almost 60 million bargain-hungry seniors shopping for drugs, medical services, and insurance policies, the impact on health care prices and spending would be immediate and enormous.

— charles m. silver and david a. hyman, STAT, "Why does Wall Street love Trump’s ineffective drug-price plan?," 14 May 2018
The investigators found that hungry caterpillars, which usually gorge on tomato leaves, had no appetite for them after the plants were exposed to snail slime and activated their chemical resistance.

— erica tennenhouse, Scientific American, "Plants “Eavesdrop” on Slimy Snails," 13 Apr. 2018
Thieves are fiercely resented, for their victims often go hungry.

— The Economist, "Crime and punishmentA chilling story from Kenya," 8 Mar. 2018
Saving a fraction of that would be enough to feed the 815 million people that go to bed hungry every night and could help meet the needs of a growing global population, set to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 from the current 7.6 billion, UN agencies say.

— umberto bacchi, The Christian Science Monitor, "British chefs cook up food waste solutions," 22 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hungry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of hungry

Middle English, from Old English hungrig; akin to Old English hungor

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

hungry Synonyms

Phrases

champing at the bit, chomping at the bit;

HUNGRY Defined for English Language Learners

hungry

adjective

Definition of hungry for English Language Learners

: suffering because of a lack of food : greatly affected by hunger
: having an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach because you need food : feeling hunger
: feeling a strong desire or need for something or to do something